Monday, August 31, 2015

A Wall of Faith



Hello Everyone, 

This past week Carli and I have really been thinking about our time here in the States and the purposes that the Lord has for us while being here. We know that He will provide all that we need to return home (Italy) however, we want to listen to His leading so that our hearts can grow to have a mature faith that is salted by the trails of waiting. 

I have been reading from the book of Nehemiah and through his life I have learned a lot about what it means to be in the Lord's will and wait on his timing. As I have a personality that is focused on efficiency and hard work, I can lose sight on the big picture that the Lord is working in my life. We see a glimpse of this same struggle in the life of Nehemiah. At first he seems to prosper in everything that the Lord pushes his way. God seems to give Nehemiah what he needs to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. First, Nehemiah rises through the ranks of Artaxerxes court to the highly trusted position as cup bearer. Then, when the King notices the sadness of Nehemiah, he wants to do something about it. He gives Nehemiah a building permit and military escort to return and rebuild the ruined city of Nehemiah's forefathers. When Nehemiah arrived to Jerusalem, he quickly mobilized people who lived around the wall to rebuild sections near their homes and the Scriptures say that the people, "had a mind to work." (Nehemiah 4:6) Things seemed to go very well for Nehemiah. 

Then come along Sanballat and Tobiah. Their people had a bad history with Judah's former dominance and did not want Jerusalem to bu rebuilt. These two men tried everything to get Nehemiah to stop working and rebuilding the wall. They insulted, threatened attacks, intimidated people all to slow the work of Nehemiah. But none of that worked. The "good hand of God" (Nehemiah 2:8) was on Nehemiah and his crew. All of this did however create distraction and distraction caused slow progress on the wall. Half of the people who were building had to stop and guard the city walls as the other continued to work. 

This ended up being a costly distraction. Why did God allow Nehemiah to have so much favor at first and then have so much wasted time, energy and money?

The truth is God didn't allow this to happen in vain. The Lord was not just building a wall but He was building faith. Faith is far more important at the end of the day guys than our goals. The Lord wants us to have faith which is "the conviction of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1) God gives it to us as a gift (Ephesians 2:8) He gives us this so that we can trust in what is "not seen" (Corinthians 5:7) more than what is seen. This is what Carli and I believe the Lord is doing in our present walk with Him. This trip to Texas coming up and the many months that we are spending in the US to raise awareness of Impatto Budrio (our church). He is allowing all of this because He wants our faith in His provision to be that which gets us by, not our own ability to take care of our needs. 

Will you join us in walking by faith? Will you partner in praying for the work of God in Budrio? Italy? Will you as Nehemiah did, walk out in faith and rely on the Lord to use your finances for His kingdom and not just your daily needs? He knows what we need. He knows that we need His time and His provision. 

Justin

Thursday, August 20, 2015

Back in the USA



Hello everyone,

We have made it back to Georgia and spending some quality time with our families. We have seen the Lord's sufficiency in all things and are learning to lean on His provision as we start this change in our lives. It is such a blessing to encourage some of our supporting churches and to be able to be ministered through our families and friends.

 As many of you are aware of, Carli and I are continuing with our plans to go to Houston, Texas at the beginning of September to start our support raising for our return to Italy. We intend to spend the next 6 months in Houston under the care and supervision of Sojourn Heights Houston. Sojourn has been partnering with our Italian team now for quite some time and have committed to helping us with networking and fund raising as well as some ministry training over the next several months.

We need your prayers over this period as we are seeking the Lord's guidance in how to let people know what our ministry is about in Budrio, Italy and our desire to see people as well as churches partnering to see new churches planted in the Bologna area. Please pray that both Carli and I through these months can also minister to the Americans around us and give a passion for the name of Christ in all aspects of our lives.

We will keep you all updated every week as we are back to let you know how we are experiencing this transition in our lives.